Morton believes in zero tolerance for illegal behavior of any kind, on either side of the Jewish-Arab divide.
DEADLINE: What was the genesis ofShoshana, and how didyou first come across this particular piece ofhistory?
Its about the time when the British were in control of Palestine between the two world wars.
Irina Starshenbaum in ‘Shoshana’Revolution Films
And it was a bit of British history that I didnt really know very much about.
A lot of British people were complaining.
Like, What are we doing here?
Why are we here?
But they didnt have a policy.
Their policy kept changing.
DEADLINE:How well known is the real Shoshanas story?
Is it something that youve embellished, or is it pretty much as the story was?
WINTERBOTTOM:The film itself is a fiction.
Theres a fictional novel that was written about Shoshana, which we deliberately didnt read.
So, weve not changed anything deliberately.
Where we know the facts, weve stuck to the facts.
How did you come to that decision?
It starts off being about two people who are in love and who want to be together.
Obviously, theres a lot of other stuff, but for me thats the central strand.
When you get to the point that youre actually atwar, youhaveto.
Being in the middle isnt an option.
And that was what was interesting about Toms book.
DEADLINE:Can you expand on that?
There was much more cooperation.
For instance, the first British High Commissioner was Jewish and Zionist.
WINTERBOTTOM:I dont know.
Obviously, [Avraham] Stern is a very famous character.
Actually, since weve made the film, weve shown it to the daughter of Geoffrey Morton.
DEADLINE:Its a very interesting period thatsnot generally discussed.
Was that an appeal, too?
WINTERBOTTOM:Its a bit of British history that, obviously, is incredibly important still.
But its a bit of British history which, I think, has been ignored or forgotten.
People were very left wing, socialist and feminist.
